It is well known to use electrical outlet boxes to terminate electrical wires and cables. Such outlet boxes permit the insertion of electrical wires into the box, which are terminated to electrical fixtures, such as switches and receptacles in an electrical outlet box. It has also become necessary to terminate communications wires for such purposes as data, voice and signal transmission and networking computers. While terminations are not required to be housed in an electrical box, as are electrical terminations, aesthetics and convenient usage has dictated the need to place the communication terminations in close proximity to the electrical terminations.
In office spaces and other commercial environments it is often desired to have access to electrical outlets or other electrical connections at locations located a distance from standard wall outlets. In order to safely accommodate such situations, floor boxes and/or ceiling boxes are typically used. These boxes may be located in the floor or ceiling, near or at the location, such as under a work cubicle or near a piece of machinery, where the connection is needed.
Some floor boxes are designed to be supported within a poured concrete floor. One of the problems in positioning a floor box is that the installer must ensure that the floor box is both flush and level with the top of the poured floor in which it is set. Other floor boxes may include a flange which sits on top of the floor surface and including an opening to permit access to the electrical connections. A cover is typically removably positionable over the opening to prevent inadvertent contact with the connectors and to restrict debris from contaminating the connectors.
In any event, conventional electrical boxes are typically installed in a structure by mounting the box to a support stud of the structure by means of a nail or screw attachment that is incorporated in the box design. Some boxes have protruding accessory exterior sheaths for nailing the box to an exposed wood or metal stud within a building. However, because the screw or nail mounting brackets protrude from the external shape of the work box, the brackets may interfere with the flush mounting of the box within a hole of the building wall, floor or ceiling.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide such electrical boxes with an internal fastener mounting means for fasteners such as screws or nails, which does not protrude above the exterior shape of the box. In this regard, it is known in the art to provide fastener holes or mounting brackets on the interior surfaces of the box in which a fastener is accessible, for example, by a screwdriver from the inside of the box. However, one drawback with these type boxes is the necessity for the installer to simultaneously hold the fastener and manually position the electrical box during mounting of the box to a structure. This makes installation difficult and prone to incorrect mounting.
Another disadvantage of this configuration relates to the holes or apertures which must be formed in the side wall of the box to accommodate the fasteners. Many electrical boxes today are formed by molding, wherein specially designed slides or cams, as part of the molding tooling, are required to form holes or apertures in a molded surface. Such specialty tooling becomes even more expensive when angled fastener holes or mounting brackets are desired.
It is therefore desirable to provide an electrical box that provides for simple installation and that is economically manufactured using a standard mold die.